Punchy robot tests Isaac Asimov's First Law on six men in a laboratory

Peter Farquhar - SOMEWHERE in a laboratory in central Europe, six men are getting beaten up by a robot.

Our utopian future existence wasn't supposed to be like this.

At least, not according to Isaac Asimov's First Law of Robotics, which states that: "A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."

Yet New Scientist is reporting that a "powerful robot" has been tasked with "hitting people over and over again in a bid to induce anything from mild to unbearable pain".

Of course, there's good intent behind the mechanised violence and it actually has everything to do with meeting Asimov's rules for robot protocol.

By teaching a robot where the human threshold for pain is, we can teach the robot when to stop punching.

Or to not punch at all, preferably.

Professor Borut Povse was the genius who came up with the experiment, got ethical approval to carry it out, and, most impressively, coaxed six of his colleagues into taking the increasingly powerful blows.

via Punchy robot tests Isaac Asimov's First Law on six men in a laboratory | News.com.au.